If true crime is your cup of tea, you won’t want to miss this new Netflix documentary which delves into the chilling case of Jennifer Pan who hired a hitman to kill her parents.

The documentary lands next month, which gives you plenty of time to do some background reading on the twisted lies she managed to keep up with for 10 years, as well as her motive for the murder.

Netflix

Jennifer’s fatal web of lies

As far as her mother and father Huei Hann and Bich Ha Pan were concerned, their daughter was a straight-A student who had secured a scholarship to Ryerson University in Toronto, and had a natural talent for figure skating and piano.

The couple, who were both refugees from Vietnam, had no idea that their seemingly perfect child had been completely fabricating every aspect of her life in the hopes of keeping them happy.

The 9/11 call that changed everything

The synopsis for the doc – titled What Jennifer Did – explains that on 8 November 2010, dispatchers received a frantic call from Jennifer to report that her parents had been shot.

Despite the panic in her voice and somewhat believable sobbing you see in the trailer, Jennifer wasn’t as innocent as she was portraying to be.

The gunmen who had burst into her family home in the upscale neighbourhood of Markham in Toronto weren’t there by mistake – in fact, the then-24-year-old had left the door unlocked for them.

In the hopes of inheriting a $500,000 (£393,000) fortune and getting rid of her pushy parents, Jennifer enlisted the help of her secret-boyfriend Daniel Chi-Kwong Wong, as well as Eric Shawn “Sniper” Carty, Lenford Roy Crawford and David Mylvaganam.

The three hitmen (Mylvaganam, Crawford and Carty) entered the property, dragged Huei and Bich down to the basement and covered their heads with blankets, tied Jennifer up, ransacked the house, stole money and then opened fire at her parents.

Jennifer’s mother was fatally shot in the head, while her dad was struck in the face and shoulder.

Skeptical that this was just a robbery gone wrong, police soon began to poke holes in the daughter’s story about how the incident unfolded – especially as she was left unharmed and was somehow able to call 911, despite her hands supposedly being bound.

But on top of this, the assailants hadn’t even finished the job.

A twist in the tale

Huei had incredibly survived his injuries and was rushed to hospital where he was placed in a medically-induced coma.

When he finally awoke after three days, the dad told cops the chilling thing he had noticed during the incident – he had saw his daughter casually converse with one of the gunmen.

The murder-for-hire plot, which is explored extensively in the upcoming Netflix doc, had actually been orchestrated by Jennifer and her secret lover Wong, who she was forbidden from dating.

She sought the ultimate revenge on her parents as she faced increasing pressure to keep up with a decade-long lie regarding her academic ability and educational success.

A strained relationship turns deadly

As Huei and Bich had placed so much emphasis on her grades, Jennifer was not granted a lot of freedom as a teenager.

She was not allowed to date during high school, attend dances or go to parties.

Despite all the emphasis her parents put on her grades, Jennifer’s were seriously slipping – so she regularly faked report cards and insisted she was on track for early admission, although Ryerson University had actually rescinded their offer.

Rather than confessing this to her parents, Jennifer pretended she was attending classes and volunteering, while she was actually sat in cafes, teaching students piano, or working in a restaurant to earn some cash.

Jennifer’s lies crumble

It was only after ten years of incessant dishonesty that Huei decided to call his daughter’s bluff and checked whether she was actually attending the volunteer role she told them she had at the hospital – and realised he had been duped.

The dad banished Jennifer from the family home, although her mother convinced him to let her stay if she agreed to abide by their strict rules, including never seeing Wong again.

It was after this, Jennifer began plotting her parents’ murder.

She and her co-conspirators Wong, Mylvaganam, and Crawford were convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder in December 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

Carty was given an 18-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit murder, with eligibility for parole after nine years. He passed away in prison in 2018.

What Jennifer Did is arriving on Netflix on 10 April.